The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Osteospermum plant, botanically known as Osteospermum ecklonis and referred to by the cultivar name `White Moon`.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Emerald, Victoria, Australia. The objective of the breeding program was to create new compact Osteospermum cultivars with large flowers.
The new cultivar originated from a cross made by the Inventor in 1993 of a proprietary selection of Osteospermum ecklonis identified as 90/75 as the female, or seed, parent and the Osteospermum ecklonis cultivar Sparkler II, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Osteospermum was selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of this cross in a controlled environment in Emerald, Victoria, Australia in 1993.
Plants of the new cultivar are different from plants of the female parent, the selection 90/75 in leaf shape, peduncle length and inflorescence size. Plants of the new Osteospermum are more compact than plants of the male parent, the cultivar Sparkler II.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings and by tissue culture at Emerald, Victoria, Australia, has shown that the unique features of this new Osteospermum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.